whats the hardest game you've ever played?

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Summer Carnival 92 Recca. Try to beat that.

 

Oh man, RECCA… I've made it to the last level (playing on a New 3DS XL after downloading the Famicom ROM from the Nintendo eShop) without using save states, but the boss rush on that final level is just insurmountably ridiculous. It should be kept in mind though that this game was made solely for play at a tournament being held for the best of the best Japanese shmup players. It wasn't a game intended to be played by anyone but the most hardcore shmup fans.

 

For me, the hardest game I've ever played has to be a toss up between Ninja Gaiden on the NES and Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge on the original Game Boy. Both are filled with stupidly cheap and incredibly frustrating enemy placement, and I never enjoyed playing either of them one bit. Which isn't to say that I don't like hard games, since one of my all time favorite games on any system is Castlevania on the original NES; and I've played through that one so many times that I can occasionally pull of a no-death speed run in it. Also, I might be one of the few people in the world who actually love The Castlevania Adventure on the original Game Boy; which is another game known pretty well for it's high difficulty level. Chakan on the Genesis was always a lot of fun for me too.

[Ransom]

 

There's different difficulty settings for Lunar Lander. The hardest one is indeed pretty difficult.

 

Oh, so maybe the arcade operator was making it harder to win? Interesting.

I'd love to have one of those cabs some day, when I have time, space, and money for such things.

[roland p]

Shadow of the beast (amiga)

Metroid (GBAm don't know which version)

Ninja Gaiden (PC Engine)

 

I'm now playing through all levels of Boxyboy, TG16 (=Sokoban on PC-Engine), which can be pretty hard too.

[BillyHW]

 

Oh, so maybe the arcade operator was making it harder to win? Interesting.

I'd love to have one of those cabs some day, when I have time, space, and money for such things.

 

Wait, I just checked MAME, and I can't find the difficulty settings. Maybe I'm confused and thinking about something else. I could have sworn I played a version somewhere with different difficulty settings, and the hardest one was insane.

[omegadot]

I seem to remember MDK2 being pretty difficult. I just really recall that you could die during the intro scene while parachuting down. That was an eye opener.

[Ransom]

 

Wait, I just checked MAME, and I can't find the difficulty settings. Maybe I'm confused and thinking about something else. I could have sworn I played a version somewhere with different difficulty settings, and the hardest one was insane.

 

It's been a long, long time, but wasn't there something where you could choose how much fuel you started with?

[BillyHW]

 

It's been a long, long time, but wasn't there something where you could choose how much fuel you started with?

 

Yes, you can adjust the fuel amount, but I also seem to remember other modes where the lander's angular momentum didn't automatically stop itself, you had to do all that actively. Made it much more difficult.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

Robotron 2084

[Austin]

Now that I can beat several of the games I once thought were the hardest (Battletoads being one, and now it seems easy), the definition of "hard" to me has changed. I don't even really know what the term stands for nowadays.

 

I wonder what truly are the *hardest* games out there. I wonder if there's a game out there that can be beaten, that nobody actually has. That's what I am curious about.

[omegadot]

I think of hard as it takes a lot of resources. With gaming my resources are usually time and focus. Usually I think it's a high amount of attention to accuracy or memorizing patterns which requires a lot of repetition.

[7800fan]

For me it had to be Battletoad. It's not a bad game (much better than ET) but it is still crazy hard and can frustrate even today.

 

ET is not hard, it's just bad because of touchy hit detection. If ET sneezes near a pit, down he goes. Trying to reach the screen with more than 4 pits is guaranteed to send ET falling as well. It is possible to stop the fall part way down and reduce the loss of enegy if you're quick on fire button.

[Blazing Lazers]

Now that I can beat several of the games I once thought were the hardest (Battletoads being one, and now it seems easy), the definition of "hard" to me has changed. I don't even really know what the term stands for nowadays.

 

I wonder what truly are the *hardest* games out there. I wonder if there's a game out there that can be beaten, that nobody actually has. That's what I am curious about.

 

Try the original Xbox version of Metal Slug 3, particularly the final stage. Apparently there was a programming oversight in the Xbox version that leads to the 5th level transitioning directly into the final level, and it turns it into a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG stage from Hell. Even with another I've never been able to do it. Always ended up getting killed by the red spiders on the mothership. And this is on the easiest difficulty with the maximum number of lives.

[schuwalker]

Ones come to mind:

 

BC Quest for Tires II: Grog's Revenge - Colecovision

 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - NES

 

Space Harrier 3D - SMS

 

R-Type 3 - SNES

[+atari2600land]

Turtles for the Odyssey 2. It took me a death-filled hour to reach the third floor.

[BigO]

I'm not sure what the hardest game was, but I'll bet I didn't play it for very long.

[SS]

There are a whole lot of games that are so hard as to be no fun at all. I generally give up on those and don't even give them a second look. The one that I really have given the old college try with, however, is the Japanese "Super Mario Bros 2" (aka "Lost Levels"). I find it absolutely freaking impossible but yet still come back for another go from time to time.

[Austin]

 

Try the original Xbox version of Metal Slug 3, particularly the final stage. Apparently there was a programming oversight in the Xbox version that leads to the 5th level transitioning directly into the final level, and it turns it into a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG stage from Hell. Even with another I've never been able to do it. Always ended up getting killed by the red spiders on the mothership. And this is on the easiest difficulty with the maximum number of lives.

 

Metal Slug 3 is stupid hard to begin with, so yeah, I believe you.

[mbd30]

There are a whole lot of games that are so hard as to be no fun at all. I generally give up on those and don't even give them a second look. The one that I really have given the old college try with, however, is the Japanese "Super Mario Bros 2" (aka "Lost Levels"). I find it absolutely freaking impossible but yet still come back for another go from time to time.

 

I think that both the American SMB2 and the Japanese version should have been released here at the time.

 

The Japanese SMB2 could have been called "Super Mario Bros. Extreme Edition" with a difficulty warning or something. They could have had a contest like a cash prize for the first 50 people to send proof that they beat the game.

Edited July 28, 2015 by mbd30

[Skippy B. Coyote]

After a long night of extreme frustration and more anger than any game has caused me since I was a teenager, I have another game to add to my list of the most ridiculously difficult games I've ever played. The game in question this time is Golden Axe for the Sega Genesis.

 

I feel very strange about mentioning Golden Axe alongside the likes of RECCA, Ninja Gaiden, and Mega Man, because I've heard many people say that Golden Axe is fairly easy and as someone who prides themselves in having beaten some of the most brutally difficult shmups ever made it seems weird how much trouble Golden Axe has given me. No matter how hard I try or how many YouTube play through videos I study I just can't get past the 7th level, and it really annoys me.

 

I may simply have to accept the fact that no matter how good I might be at spaceship shooters, I just suck at beat 'em ups. Screw you Golden Axe!

[Ransom]

Turtles for the Odyssey 2. It took me a death-filled hour to reach the third floor.

 

Yes! That one is tough. It's like playing Three-card Monte, only with death as the penalty for picking wrong.

[Papa]

In Golden Axe (and a few other games like it) you can jump in as the second player (or..GASP...HAVE A FRIEND!) right before you die and get twice as much play. This method makes it relatively easy to beat the game. I've beaten it several times with a buddy, and once or twice by myself without the 'jump-in-as-the-second-player-right-before-you-die' tactic. The hardest part of the game is having to deal with the undead at the end that constantly attack you while the end boss is trying to whack you so he can use magic. The enemy A.I. in the game is often so stupidly (or ingeniously) programmed as to be able to 'lure' them off of ledges or move to allow them to fly off of cliffs.

 

I've always had a hard time with Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts for the SNES. Some of the hardest games I've found to be on the SNES as they seem to want to port over arcade titles, make them ridiculously choppy, and give you the equivalent of eight quarters to beat the whole game (I would easily plunk down five bucks on a game that I really liked in the arcade). R-Type III I have to second as it is frustratingly hard and way too choppy. Gradius III is another chop-fest-frustration-maker. There are too many to keep track of in the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom library.

 

Atari games are generally hard after you're wrist goes numb and you can't figure out what the strategy is. Many old school classics you have to really like to endure the learning curve. Back in the day I would forget about even trying to play Pacman with any level of success, whereas today I can score high enough to feel like the effort was worth it. Some of them I would classify as 'funny-noise-and-I-guess-I-died' games that you may want to look up to see what they are supposed to be about or how to play them at all.

 

Most games are hard at first and then, if there is some part of it to keep you coming back, they get easier with memory, repetition, and strategy.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Papa

[AtariK2]

For me it's a toss-up between these on the Atari 2600:

 

Swordquest Series

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordquest

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark_(video_game)

 

Granted I was a ~13 year old so that could have contributed to the difficulty although very few gaming finishes have compared to the excitement of seeing the Ark of the Covenant finally rising on my screen in full Atari 2600 multi-color glory (including my trembling hands as I excitedly took a completion Polaroid screen shot for a contest that was going on at the time).

 

Swordquest Series on the other hand - I never did finish...

[mbd30]

I recently beat "Golden Axe" for Sega Genesis with all three characters. I love that game. Probably the easiest character to beat the game with is Tyris. She has the best dash attack and magic.